Transcribe Notice of the Ward cabinets...the University of Rochester (1863)

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28                                                   OPINIONS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN.

this one of Mr. Ward. Indeed, in nearly all our colleges, the 
absence or want of collections is a serious obstacle in the way of
giving proper instruction in these departments."

Dr. John Torrey, of New York, the Botanist and Chemist, sent
the following noticed of the Cabinet to the New York Journal of 
Commerce:

"While in Rochester last week, I spent the greater part of a 
day in examining the immense Cabinet, or rather Museum, of Geology
and Mineralogy, collected by Prof. Henry A. Ward, of that 
city. Much as I had heard and read of this grand collection, I 
had formed no just estimate of its extent and value. The founder 
is still under thirty years of age, although he has spent about six 
years, and travelled more than 100,000 miles in Europe, Asia and 
Africa, in gathering these rich treasures. The specimens, which 
are regularly classified and ticketed, as well as handsomely displayed,
fill all the available space of the two rooms, and cover more 
than 5,700 square feet of surface. The Geological portion is much 
the larger, and is kept separate from the Mineralogical Cabinet. 
The specimens are about 40,000 in number, and have been selected 
with great judgment, so as to answer the great end for which such 
Cabinets should be established - which is not to excite mere wonder
or admiration, but to afford sound instruction in one of the most 
interesting and practical branches of human knowledge. Unlike 
many other large geological collections, which are rich in some 
departments and meagre in others, this has all the formations or
systems about equally represented. The fossils are grand, and 
embrace, in fine original specimens, and in casts taken from celebrated 
unique specimens in foreign museums, most of the remarkable 
extinct animals described in geological works. Indeed, no 
Geological Cabinet in the United States can compare in magnitude 
and value with this. Such, too, is the testimony of Professors
Hall, Hitchcock, Silliman, Dana, Dewey, Doremus and others.

The collection of Minerals is also extensive and rich in 
species. The specimens are unusually large, and a good proportion 
of them crystallized. Although it is not the best in the United 
States, it is excelled by very few, and is admirably selected for the 
purpose of instruction. Besides the specimens of minerals, fossils 
and rocks, the walls are covered with charts, diagrams and geological 
pictures. As yet the Cabinet remains in the hands of its 
founder, and is kept in a building by no means fire-proof. It is

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28 OPINIONS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN.

this one of Mr. Ward. Indeed, in nearly all our colleges, the absence or want of collections is a serious obstacle in the way of giving proper instruction in these departments."

Dr. John Torrey, of New York, the Botanist and Chemist, sent the following noticed of the Cabinet to the New York Journal of Commerce:

"While in Rochester last week, I spent the greater part of a day in examining the immense Cabinet, or rather Museum, of Geology and Mineralogy, collected by Prof. Henry A. Ward, of that city. Much as I had heard and read of this grand collection, I had formed no just estimate of its extent and value. The founder is still under thirty years of age, although he has spent about six years, and travelled more than 100,000 miles in Europe, Asia and Africa, in gathering these rich treasures. The specimens, which are regularly classified and ticketed, as well as handsomely displayed, fill all the available space of the two rooms, and cover more than 5,700 square feet of surface. The Geological portion is much the larger, and is kept separate from the Mineralogical Cabinet. The specimens are about 40,000 in number, and have been selected with great judgment, so as to answer the great end for which such Cabinets should be established - which is not to excite mere wonder or admiration, but to afford sound instruction in one of the most interesting and practical branches of human knowledge. Unlike many other large geological collections, which are rich in some departments and meagre in others, this has all the formations or systems about equally represented. The fossils are grand, and embrace, in fine original specimens, and in casts taken from celebrated unique specimens in foreign museums, most of the remarkable extinct animals described in geological works. Indeed, no Geological Cabinet in the United States can compare in magnitude and value with this. Such, too, is the testimony of Professors Hall, Hitchcock, Silliman, Dana, Dewey, Doremus and others.

The collection of Minerals is also extensive and rich in species. The specimens are unusually large, and a good proportion of them crystallized. Although it is not the best in the United States, it is excelled by very few, and is admirably selected for the purpose of instruction. Besides the specimens of minerals, fossils and rocks, the walls are covered with charts, diagrams and geological pictures. As yet the Cabinet remains in the hands of its founder, and is kept in a building by no means fire-proof. It is